Music Director and Conductor Donald Spieth has divided the bill into serious and light fare. Represented in the first category are Copland's "An Outdoor Overture," an "optimistic" piece written in 1938 for the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan and tied to the campaign "American Music for American Youth," and Barber's Adagio for Strings, a sustained, brooding work which colored the movie "Platoon." The frothy side will be promoted by selections from "Fiddler on the Roof," "A Chorus Line" and "The King and I."

Morton Gould's "American Salute" revolves around the melody of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." A former staff pianist at Radio City Music Hall and music director of CBS Radio's "Chrysler Hour," the composer and conductor is well known for musical Americana. Among his indigenous works are "A Lincoln Legend," "Cowboy Rhapsody," the ballet "Fall River Legend," a setting of the Declaration of Independence, two Bicentennial pieces ("Symphony of Spirituals" and "American Ballads") and "American Sing," written to help open the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Four pieces by Leroy Anderson - a hit, says Spieth, during the 1986 pops concert - feature unusual ornamentation. Violins, for example, imitate the sound of a feline in "The Waltzing Cat" while sandpaper blocks are rubbed together in "Sandpaper Ballet."

"Saturday Night at the Pops" also will include Bernstein's Overture to "Candide," Sousa's "The Freelance March" and a Gunther Schuller edition of Scott Joplin's "The Maple Leaf Rag." Schuller removed errors compounded by the absence of a score, added idiomatic phrase marks, and generally highlighted "stylistic characteristics simply taken for granted in the original publication and therefore not indicated." Spieth has rigged it so that string players solo - a Joplin suggestion - along with the flutist, clarinet player, trombonist, trumpeter and percussionist.

WLVT-39, will tape the Stabler performance. An edited program will run Aug. 19 on the local station and six other members of the Pennsylvania Public Television Network.

The Pops admission price covers the cost of wine, snacks and table seating. Tables of 10 are available. For reservations, call 770-9666.